Wilderness

(Nashville – August 25, 2010) The Obama administration’s America’s Great Outdoors initiative comes to Tennessee Friday August 27 in an effort to develop a conservation agenda for the 21st century. Conservation, recreation and business leaders across Tennessee are calling on citizens to speak-up and help shape the initiative aimed at getting kids outside and safeguarding our natural heritage.

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Local Partnership Working to Preserve Water, Open Space, Recreational Benefits and Spiritual Values of Angeles and San Bernardino National Forests

LOS ANGELES – Several churches from the San Gabriel Valley will meet in the San Gabriel Mountains this Saturday - the day before Easter - to express their support for more protection of the mountain range.

DENVER - Leaders across Southwestern Colorado praised Congressman John Salazar (D-CO3) for his new San Juan Mountains Wilderness legislation. The bill, introduced earlier today, has the backing of San Miguel, Ouray, and San Juan Counties, along with numerous local stakeholders and would protect some of the San Juan Mountains most spectacular landscapes.

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WASHINGTON - Thursday, September 3, marks the 45th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, landmark conservation legislation that allows citizens to work with Congress to protect America’s public land as wilderness.

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SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. House of Representative approved a landmark wild land and rivers protection bill by a vote of 285 to 140 today, following years of bipartisan work to protect hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness. The legislation which passed the U.S. Senate on March 19, will now head to President Obama’s desk. Mr. Obama is expected to sign the legislation.

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives today passed the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which would permanently protect more than 2 million acres of America’s wilderness in California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia. The omnibus lands act provides the greatest expansion of the National Wilderness Preservation System in 15 years. It now advances to the President’s desk, where it is expected to be signed into law.

WASHINGTON – Approval today by a key Senate Committee means legislation to permanently protect wilderness and wild and scenic rivers in the Eastern Sierra and Northern San Gabriel Mountains, Riverside County, and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park is bound for a vote by the full Senate. Together, the three bills will protect more than 732,000 acres of wilderness and over 80 miles of wild and scenic rivers for future generations to enjoy.

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In 1911 something very important occurred for American forests. The Weeks Act was introduced by and named for Massachusetts Representative John W. Weeks. Before this legislation, forests in the East were privately owned — and for the most part were mismanaged, unprotected and damaged from poor logging practices and development. The forests had declining water quality and were at risk of large wildfires, erosion and flooding.